Subject: - Items from the All India Civil Accounts Employees Association for inclusion in the Departmental Anomaly Committee, Ministry of Finance.

Dear Comrade,

With reference to the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, O.M. No. 7/5/2009-Coord dated 4th March 2010, we are forwarding the following 4(four) items from the All IndiaCivil AccountsEmployees Association for discussion in the Departmental Anomaly Committee of Ministry of Finance. We request you to kindly forward the items to the Anomaly Committee. Explanatory note against each item has been furnished in the enclosed annexure.

1. Grant of Grade Pay of Rs. 4200/- to Accountants

2. Grant of Grade Pay of Rs. 4600/- to Senior Accountants

3. Grant of Grade Pay of Rs. 4800/- and 5400/- on completion of 4 years to Private Secretaries

4. Grant of PB 3 with grade pay of 5400/-Assistant Accounts Officers on completion of four years

After implementation of V CPC recommendations, Government of India had taken a decision and upgraded the Pay Scale of Accountants/Auditors to 4500-7000 only notionally with effect from 01.01.1996 and actually with effect from 19.02.2003.

The VI CPC, conceding the principle of parity between Field and Secretariat office, has given the following existing and revised structure in Field Organization vide Table below Para 3.1.14 of VI CPC Report:

Post

Present Pay ScaleRecommended Pay Scale

Recommended

Pay BandGrade Pay

Head Clerk/Assistant

Steno Gr II &

Equivalent

4500-7000)6500-10500

5000-8000)

PB-24200

The term "Equivalent" means to include Accountants/Auditors in the field offices of Organized Accounts including IA&AD. This is inferred also from the fact that nowhere else the VI CPC has recommended the revised Pay Band and Grade Pay for Accountants.

In the light of these submissions, it is requested that Accountants are to be granted the Grade Pay of 4200 in PB-2 and not Grade Pay of 2800 in PB-1 because the categories of officials mentioned in the 1st column of the above referred table and at last the parity in Pay Scale with that of Assistants of CSS has been recognized and extended by the VI CPC to Auditors/Accountants.

The demand for upgradation of Pay Scales of Auditors/Accountants to bring it at par with the Pay Scale of Assistants of CSS had been presented by their Associations before all the Central Pay Commissions.

Government had granted the Pay Scale of 5500-9000 notionally with effect from 01.01.1996 and actually from 19.02.2003 thus removing this disparity atleast notionally from 01.01.1996.

Afterwards just before the setting up of VI CPC, Government in DOPT in their order vide OM 20/29/2006-CS.III date September 25, 2006 further upgraded the pay scale of Assistant to 6500-10500 (which was assigned to their supervisor ie Section Officer) with effect from 15.09.2006. The VI CPC in Para 3.15 had observed that "this upgradation apart from increasing the existing gap between the similarly designated posts (posts clubbed together by IV CPC) in the Secretariat and field offices, has also led to a piquant situation where the feeder posts of Assistant and the promotion post of Section Officer have come to lie in an identical Pay Scale".

In Para 3.1.3, the VI CPC argued against anomaly in the Pay Scales in the CSS and the field offices and emphatically recommended that "the time has come to grant parity between similarly placed personnel employed in field offices and in the Secretariat" and further that "this parity will need to be absolute till the grade of Assistant". No reason however has been given why beyond this "it may not be possible or even justifiable to grant complete parity except that the hierarchy and progression will need to be different…taking in view the functional considerations and relativities across the board".

At the time of implementing the VI CPC recommendations, Government had granted Grade Pay of Rs.4200/- to Assistants of CSS and Sr. Accountants/Sr. Auditors.

Here it may be observed that the latest upgradation of the Assistant pay scale ie PB-2 Grade Pay 4600 is not based on any recommendations of VI CPC.

It is therefore emphatically urged that the same PB-2 Grade Pay of 4600 should be granted to Senior Accountants with effect from 01.01.2006 so that this anomaly in the Pay Scale of Assistants of CSS and Senior Auditors/Accountants of IA&AD and Organized Accounts Departments is not re-introduced as had been done earlier in the year 1990 and 2006.

3. Grant of Grade Pay of Rs. 4800/- and 5400/- on completion of 4 years to Private Secretaries of Civil Accounts Organization

In the Civil Accounts Organization, Private Secretaries were in the pre-revised scale of Rs.6500 -10500. As per O.M. of the Ministry dated 13-11-2009, they were placed in the grade pay of Rs.4600/- corresponding to the pre-revised scale of Rs.7450-11500. The posts of Private Secretaries were Group –B Gazetted where as Junior Accounts Officers were non-gazetted Group-B in the pre-revised scale of Rs.6500 -10500. While the Junior Accounts Officers have been upgraded and granted Grade pay of Rs. 4800, the posts of Private Secretaries have been placed one stage below. This anomaly may be removed by granting Grade pay of Rs. 4800 and 5400 on completion of 4 years to Private Secretaries.

4. Grant of PB 3 with grade pay of 5400/- after 5 years to Assistant Accounts Officers

The AAOs had been assigned complete parity with the Section Officers of Secretariat and they had been granted the pay scale of 6500-10500 with effect from 01.01.1996. In case of AAOs, the observation of the VI CPC is as under:-

"This upgradation (grant of pre-revised pay scale of 7500-12000) revised Pay Band Grade pay of4800 to the Section Officers will place the pay scale of Section Officers and AAO in an identical Pay Scale, thus necessitating the upgradation of the later category". It has been laid down by the Government that wherever the lower pay scale has been recommended inspite of the fact that the need for higher pay scale was expressed by CPC it would mean an anomaly to be rectified. Having expressed the need for granting a pay scale higher than the pre-revised pay scale of 7500-12000, PB2 Grade Pay of 4800, but recommending the same pay scale not only to the extent Assistant Audit/Accounts Officer but also to the Audit/Accounts Officers was quite anomalous and needed rectification.

By so recommending the VI CPC has placed the post of Section officer, post of AAO and post of Audit/Accounts Officer in an identical pay scale though as per their observation AAO should have been placed in the next higher scale of 8000-13500. (PB3, Grade Pay 5400). The government of India partially rectified this anomaly by assigning the pre-revised pay scale of 8000-13500 PB2 Grade Pay of 5400. As a matter of fact this pay scale should have gone to AAO in terms of the above observation of VI CPC and not to the Audit/Accounts Officer. On logical consideration all SO who have completed 4 years, in the case of Civil Accounts organization all AAOs who have completed 4 years, should be placed in PB 3 with grade pay of 5400.